Milestones in our Long Journey to Cai Yun

·         September 8, 2012:  Fly from Hong Kong to the United States
(Cai Yun officially becomes a US citizen when our plane touches down in the US!!!)

·         September 7, 2012:  Pick up Cai Yun’s US visa and take train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong

·         September 6, 2012:  United States Consulate appointment in Guangzhou

·         August 27, 2012:  Meet our daughter for the 1^st time - our FOREVER FAMILY DAY!!!

·         August 22, 2012: Depart for Beijing, China

·         July 31, 2012: Travel Approval from China’s CCAA

·         July 18, 2012: Article 5 issued by US Consulate in China

·         File I800 (Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative)

·         May 22, 2012 - Julie’s birthday: I800A approval!

·         May 17, 2012: Appointment for new fingerprints with USCIS.

·         April 2012: Refiled immigration papers since our I 600 expired - this time an Application for Determination of Suitability of a Child from a Convention Country (I-800A) with USCIS

·         March 27, 2012: North Carolina home study was completed

·         Feb 16, 2012:  Sign a Letter of Seeking Confirmation from Adopter issued by CCAA on February 8, 2012 (2 days before Cai Yun’s 9^th birthday!)

·         Feb 2012: North Carolina homestudy visits

·         Feb 6, 2012: Pre-approval for us to adopt Zhu Cai Yun issued by China Center for Adoption Affairs

·         Jan 30, 2012: Our Waiting Child Letter of Intent (LOI) for Zhu Cai Yun sent to China

·         Jan 12, 2012: Request and receive more information on Cai Yun from CCAI's Waiting Child Department

·         Jan 11, 2012: After seeing hundreds of waiting child profiles over the years, Julie sees Cai Yun's profile on CCAI's Waiting Child webpages and knows this is our daughter.  Max agrees when she shows him that evening. From then on we could not get Cai Yun out of our minds!

·         April 5, 2007: LID – our Dossier logged in with China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA)!!!

·         March 15, 2007: Our dossier sent to China

·         March 9, 2007: Dossier received by CCAI

·         December 2006:  Julie has to return to USCIS’s Detroit office two more times because of lack of good fingerprints!

·         Nov 2006:  Fingerprint appointment with USCIS

·         File I600A

·         Sept 2006: Our Michigan homestudy visits begin

·         Aug 19, 2006: Our application approved by CCAI, our selected adoption agency

·         Aug 14, 2006: Send our application to CCAI (Chinese Children Adoption International)

·         2006: After 15 years of marriage, years of trying to have a baby, and hearts ready to be vulnerable again, we decide to pursue an adoption from China. At the time the average time to bring a child home was around 1 year.